Recipe for Success

Recently I got myself a pleasant surprise when I went to a neighborhood laundry mat to wash a few area rugs. It was the same one I had used before. The proprietors there were pleasant but their service area was poorly lit. Its Spartan facility could also use a coat of fresh paint to spruce the place up a bit.

On that day the moment I walked into that shop, I was taken aback by what I saw. The place is bright and spotless. The shining chrome frame on many washing machines gleams with the soft lights from the many florescent tubes above. A coat of pastel blue-colored paint also emits some pleasantry in the air.

I learned later that this essential business provider has a new owner. Obviously, the simple improvements the new owners made to their investment over the last two months have brought them the expected results. While one of the mild-manner owners took care of the drop-off business, the other patiently explained to a customer of the different features an oversize washing machine provides. It is certain that their newly acquired business is booming!

As a consumer, this much improved laundry mat is a good news to me. Now I know there is a pleasant place to bring my future laundry business to. Unlike the many businesses, small and large, that I have known, invariably their services deteriorated after there was a change of the ownership. - Ayee

Amazing Kitties (I)

I thought my cats are smart ones until I read about "Eponine" in "The White and Black Dynasty."*

I will not go into the details on why this petite female kitty was so named. Perhaps growing up in the household of a literary family has something to do with a name like "Eponine."

Theophile Gautier, a renown nineteen century French poet, writer and critic, kept a pair of Angora cats with ermine like pure white coats. This handsome and gracious couple bestowed upon the prolific writer three jet black kittens. One of them was named Eponine.

Eponine must be the great poet’s favorite. She adored her famous keeper a great deal as well. Eponine always followed her master around when he was home. To return the many favors he had for her, she kept him accompanied whenever he was at his desk writing his next book. Furthermore, to earn her keep, Eponine became a page for the house. When the door bell rang, she would go to the door greet the guests, then usher them to the drawing room.

Unlike other cats, this endearing furry ball ate at the dinning table instead off the kitchen floor. Imagine a little black cat sits on an oversized dinning table chair for supper! Sitting next to her most beloved, she polished off her three-course meal with a half glass of water in style.

We all know cats are crazy about fish. When Eponine detected that delectable seafood was in the air, she would try to skip her soup. Her feline rationale on skipping the soup is no different from any of ours: less soup means more room for fish. Unfortunate for her, her master read her smart logics, and told her if she was not hungry for soup, she was not hungry for fish either. Eponine somehow got the message loud and clear and would finish her soup quickly whenever there were fish in the offering.

Eponine also knew when she was not invited for dinner. When silverware was placed by the dish on the table at where she normally sat, she knew to retreat to other place in the house during dinner time. However, Eponine would still get a few tasty morsels under the table from the guests who she knew had a few soft spots for her.

Such an amazing kitty Eponine is. It is no wonder that her dear master cast her as the star in one of his many short stories. * - Ayee